Beer is the drink of choice for nearly three-quarters of consumers planning to buy bev-alc products for their Memorial Day weekend celebrations, according to insights firm Numerator.
Of the 5,900 respondents surveyed, half plan to mark the long weekend – the unofficial kick off to summer – with a celebration, and 43% of them plan to bEdit Edit visibilityuy alcoholic beverages.
“The top celebration plans include grilling/barbecuing (58% of celebrators), gathering with family and friends (55%), cooking or baking at home (27%), hosting others at their home (19%), and attending a public celebration (13%),” Numerator wrote.
Food (83%) was the most commonly cited purchase, followed by alcoholic beverages (43%), non-alcoholic beverages (36%), decorations (17%) and party supplies (13%).
Seventy-three percent of respondents planning to buy alcohol say they will buy beer. A three-way tie for second place followed:
- Spirits and spirits-based drinks (38%);
- Hard seltzers and ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails (38%);
- Wine (38%).
Pre-mixed margaritas rounded out planned bev-alc purchases with 19% of respondents reporting intention to buy. Margaritas overindexed with millennials, with 26% planning to buy.
RTDs and hard seltzers over-indexed with legal-drinking-age (LDA) Gen Z respondents, with 71% of them planning to purchase from the segment, compared with 38% of overall respondents. Gen Z celebrators are also more than three times as likely to buy games or activities for their parties, with 25% planning to, compared to 8% of other respondents.
Grocery stores (65%) are the most popular retail destination for Memorial Day weekend shopping, followed by big box stores (51%), liquor stores (25%), discount/dollar stores (22%), and small, local businesses (14%).
Last year, total bev-alc off-premise dollar sales reached $1.576 billion for the week ending May 26, which was the Sunday of the long weekend, according to market research firm Circana. Those sales marked a 0.6% decline in dollars and 2.1% decline in volume from 2023.
The beer category accounted for the bulk of holiday weekend bev-alc sales, with dollars reaching $1.049 billion, slightly outpacing category dollar declines (-0.4%), but matching the 2.1% volume decline.
Among beer segments, imports (+6%) and domestic super premiums (+5%) led the way, buoyed by Constellation Brands’ Modelo ($118.8 million, +11.6% compared to 2023) and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob Ultra ($87.9 million, +6.3%).